I think you understand the principles. You need to further understand the "best practices" that have been determined for the area, climate, and type of structure you have. That comes from online research, or from paying a contractor with a reputation in the local area, or from hiring a consultant from the Building Science Corporation: https://buildingscience.com/

It would not be beyond reason to attend one of BSC's "Building Science Fundamentals" classes, such as:

The climate chaos thread is off in another direction but I want to respond to COG here, because it is relative.

COG said..."I like climate controlled environments and flush toilets. Nothing is stopping you from moving to India and living in a slum except yourself. Go forth and do so and give me a range report on how its so much better."

The implication here is that by giving up the perks of modern life and consumerism I will surely be miserable. He wants confirmation of his personal beliefs.

Then he said..."Go to the breaker box, turn off power, go outside and live there. You are free young man, go explore. Enjoy, but for the love of God quit bitching about how good you have it. You must be a millennial."

Ha,ha...my responses of happiness and glee don't fit into his world view. So I should shut up

I have done what he asked. I left the suburban world of excess and consumerism and moved to a world of conservation and self-reliance. I refused the easy availability of grocery store veggies from Mexico and chose freely to do the work needed to grow them better. I will bitch and moan about the social irresponsibility of Duke Power all I want and the people who are dependent on them. I will laugh at you for paying interest rates, bankers, investment advisors, and taxes on all your wonderful income. You have lost your connections...

I have found mine. The preps I read on Peakoil.com made so much sense to me 10 years ago that I just did them. I read all the lists and took them to heart. I worked hard and focussed on the goal and here I am

But instead of feeling I have lost something...I feel I have gained so much. I live in harmony with Mother Earth and Father Sun. I work with people, and for people, who share my values and direction. I connect with it all right down to the dirt under my fingernails. It feels good

I may stop posting my successes because I don't like pompous assholes either. But the truth is...life here struggling to survive is 10 times better than life in suburbia behind a video screen.

You should join me

Welcome to the world of the fruits of your own labor, and don't let the parasites get you down.

Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit nothing but their Souls. - Anonymous Ghung Person

The biggest thing we found with the blower door was the amount of infiltration around interior doors and base. Sounds like you've sealed up the perimeter walls at the foundation but don't forget the suction from heat differential can pull from the attic too. 1954 your house was "platform framed" (unlike our 1914 balloon frame manse) but it certainly wasn't sealed tight and those mechanical penetrations at the top plates are hard to find.

Just calk the base top and bottom and all cracks in interior and exterior jambs and casing.

The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)

I have caulked and sealed outside doors and casings but I haven't done any interior doors. I'm sure there is some outside air that can penetrate the interior walls but not much. The spray foam seals it all up from below but like you said the attic is not so tight. I was thinking about rolling out a vapor barrier plastic layer on top of the insulation in the attic. The old paper barrier on the bottom of the original insulation is crap after all these years.

If your ceilings aren't sealed and you put a vapor barrier on top of the existing insulation, in the winter, moisture in the house will migrate through your existing insulation and condense on the barrier, dripping back down. Mold city.

Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit nothing but their Souls. - Anonymous Ghung Person

baha wrote:Yeah Ghung, your right. I have read about it. Some people do this with a radiant barrier that is supposed to pass moisture. I'm not so sure. I should probably leave it alone. It's nice and warm in here

I got 9" of snow in the last few days. I bet you really got dumped on

We barely got a dusting, just a couple of inches of cold rain. I even had to run the genny for a while to keep batteries happy (actually to keep my wife's TV happy). We live in a remarkable little valley that is protected from all sides, sort of like in the old scifi; Day the World Ended, where the heroic scientist had a doomstead surrounded by lead ore mountains

We usually avoid the cold "wedge" from the east that you guys get sometimes. Our nasty cold blasts generally sneak in from the NW. Anyway, the freeze line stayed east of us. Asheville got it pretty bad.

Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit nothing but their Souls. - Anonymous Ghung Person